US and India report highest daily jump in new cases as infections in Brazil surge by tens of thousands
The US, Brazil and India: The only three countries with more than a million cases
Earlier today, India surged past one million cases, becoming the third country in the world to do so, after the United States and Brazil.
In all three countries, the pandemic is wreaking havoc on healthcare systems, economies, and residents’ daily lives.
The United States has the highest number of cases in the world, with more than 3.5 million infections recorded since the pandemic began. There were more than 77,000 new cases today alone.
New daily cases have more than tripled in just a few weeks; the figure had hovered around 25,000 in mid-June.
Hard-hit states are bringing in hundreds of medical staff from other states to help, and hospitals running out of ICU beds. In Arizona and Texas, hard-hit counties have brought in refrigerated trucks as morgues fill up.
In Brazil, cases are surging by tens of thousands every day. The country now has 2,012,151 cases and 76,688 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The administration has come under fire for its handling of the pandemic. President Jair Bolsonaro, who tested positive last week, previously dismissed the virus as just a “little flu.” He has criticized local leaders imposing lockdowns, and implied they were inflating death tolls to make the federal government response look bad.
Meanwhile, the country’s Health Ministry continues to be administered by an active duty military man with no public health experience, appointed as interim Minister two months ago.
In India, the health ministry has reported 1,003,832 total cases and more than 25,600 deaths. It’s also seeing a surge of infections, reporting its highest daily jump in new cases between Thursday and Friday.
Across the country, critically ill virus patients are being turned away from public and private hospitals for lack of beds, staff and equipment, as healthcare infrastructure buckles under the pressure.
The poorest citizens are the hardest hit. About 74 million people live shoulder to shoulder in overcrowded urban slums, where there is little running water or sanitation and social distancing is impossible.
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